Nearby Theaters

The Crown Theatre opened on August Bank Holiday Monday 1912 and the architect was J.H. Gilbert. It had a decorative façade, which was topped by a centally place crown. It was licenced to screen pictures and had at first only had a temporary licence for accompanying music. Seating was provided for 558, but the cinema was so successful, that in April 1913, it was extended to seat 771.

On 1st June 1925 it was taken over by Oscar Deutsch (his first cinema) who later built up the Odeon chain. It only remained under Deutsch’s control for a while as it was sold as a going concern in 1928. It was temporarily closed in October 1940 by air raid damage.

In October 1957 it was closed again for modernisation and re-opened on 1st March 1958 with Eva Bartok in “Her Crime Was Love” with the film’s star appearing ‘in person’. It was now known as the Paris Luxury Continental Cinema, later shortened to Paris Cinema. After several operators and openings and closures over the years, it finally closed on 21st November 1981. The building lay derelict and suffered damage by fire in 1991. However by mid-1999 it had re-opened as Riley’s American Pool & Snooker Club which remains open today.

I worked at the Crown and then for a short time at the Paris…as a part time projectionist while still a teenager. Now I own my own cinema in Thomaston GA USA. Between then and now I was mostly in TV production, first for ATV in England and then in Canada and the USA before ‘returning’ to the cinema life.
Remember the Crown well. Also the Prince of Wales which for a time was owned by the same people.
Cheers,
Malcolm Neal

Ha Ha, I also was a projectionist at the Paris, mid 70’s.
I also went into TV. I was a sound recordist then cameraman the editor for ABC Australia before redundancy/retirement in 2011 here in Western Australia.
Loved the cinema job, not only the operations but we were ushers and had to repair loose seat arms/downlights and we got to bring our own music to play at intermissions etc!